Leaping Arch Printable version

How many arches will you have - 2, 4, or many more? What lights will you use, RGB strips or bullet/square node strings ... or even old school shop-bought LED light strings?

Light Types

With shop-bought strings wrapped around conduit

The original leaping arch designs uses either a single shop-bought string cut into sections or multiple shorter shop-bought strings (incandescent, then LED) wrapped around a frame, with each section connected separately to a controller so that the lights can be sequenced to appear like they leap from one side to the other. 7 strings for example would translate to a 7 segment arch.

PVC electrical conduit that's rigid but can still bend to a arch design

With RGB pixel strip

Air-Seeder pipe that's opaque in colour and bendable to various shapes
https://auschristmaslighting.com/threads/air-seeder-pipe-arch.9227/

The 32mm size air seeder tube fits nicely over 25mm conduit.

Here is a fantastic guide on making leaping arches with RGB strip and seeder tube posted by cdjazman

Roosta's build thread with air seeder strip arches:

With RGB bullet pixels

Bullet pixels and air-seeder tube

If you like the air seeder tube diffused look but don't use strip then bullet pixels can be used instead

Bullet pixels and coro

Leaping arch mounts made from coro can be bought from places like Boscoyo (USA) or Extreme Lighting Displays (Australia) - small (20 nodes), medium (32 nodes), large (50 nodes).

Variations

Driveway Arches

As the same suggests, driveway arches are a 'super-sized' take of the leaping arch and is intended to span the width of a driveway, potentially high enough to park under it. Without proper supports, you may find that conduit deforms in the Australian Summer sun

Fan Arches / Arch Spinner

Fan arches add in additional light runs between the centre and edges of the semi-circle, like spokes on a bicycle wheel. Sometimes called an arch spinner.


Fan arch shapes can also be built using coro designs from Boscoyo (USA), Extreme Lighting Displays (Australia), etc

See also

You may find further ideas in our Leaping arches custom creations forum. Questions, ideas, or have a build guide on how you made your own arches? Please share it.